More about YFile

YFile is published Monday to Thursday by York University’s Communications & Public Affairs (CPA) Division and distributed by email to more than 5,000 faculty and staff of the University. YFile reports on institutional news and events, people and trends.

The YFile homepage is divided into Top Stories, which appear in the “carousel,” Current News, Research and Bookshelf. Daily external media mentions are captured in the York in the Media section.

YFile is also available to an external audience, it is searchable on Google and it has its own embedded search engine. YFile stories are pushed out daily on Twitter (@YorkUNews) and Facebook.

All material that appears in the publication is researched, written and/or edited by two professional journalists on staff in York’s Communications & Public Affairs Division.

YFile Mandate

YFile is York University’s campus “newsletter.”

YFile’s mandate is to serve York faculty, staff and students by writing, editing and reporting on campus news.
YFile’s mission is to support York University’s goals and objectives by celebrating academic and research excellence, student success, community engagement, teaching and learning.
YFile is an indispensable source of trusted, relevant and authoritative news and information for all readers.
YFile accomplishes its mandate by embodying the character, the voice and the spirit of its readers.

YFile Story Requirements

There are two ways to develop a story submission for consideration by YFile:

1) With at least 10 working days of notice, if the schedule permits, YFile can photograph and report on pan-University events.

2) With less than 10 working days of notice, community members can – if they wish to do so, by working with their communications manager – prepare and submit a draft story. YFile staff will then refine, edit and finalize the story.

YFile stories should be between 400 and 750 words.

To better serve all Faculties and departments, YFile requires that all story requests be sent first to the Faculty or departmental communications managers, who will make sure the content and information is complete and newsworthy before passing either the details of the request or the completed story to YFile for consideration. YFile has a story form available for download to assist with organizing your request. Feel free to copy jpitt@yorku.ca and ashleygc@yorku.ca on the request.

PDF posters of events cannot be reproduced in YFile because they are not accessible to persons with disabilities. Instead, please send the information as a word document and include the images as separate jpeg files.

Revisions to archived news stories

YFile is the journal of record of York University. In this role, stories are archived both online and in the digital archives of the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections. A request to alter or remove an archived news story will only be considered if the story and/or image pose a threat to personal safety.

Requests to alter or remove an archived news story will not be considered if the request changes the story in a significant way so that it alters the original news, and/or if the requester wishes to update an image, include their current role or add a fact to reflect a current situation.

Questions or comments on this policy can be directed to the YFile editor at jpitt@yorku.ca, please include “Story Revision Policy” in the subject header.

YFile Story Outline

To help you organize, develop and manage your story requests, and to provide a framework to discuss the proposed story fully with your communications manager, YFile has prepared the following story outline:

What’s the hook?
What’s unique about the story?
What makes the story compelling?
Why is this topic or issue important to readers?
Why and how will the story interest members of the York community?
Are there any potential implications for the broader community?
Is your story time-sensitive?
What are the main highlights?
Do you have any pre-approved quotes or testimonials?
Are there photos you can supply?
Who are the main people involved?
What are their roles?
Remember to include related websites, contact information, registration details and anything else that you feel is required to make the story complete.

YFile Events

YFile staff can only provide event coverage for high-profile, pan-University events, such as major funding announcements or presidential events. All other events can be submitted in advance to the York University Events calendar.

Please note: Depending on the number of submissions being received and the time of year, it can take up to two days for a submitted event listing to appear on the calendar. Special requests can be made for events to be highlighted as Featured Events on the York University homepage to encourage attendance. However, not all Featured Event requests can be accommodated as space is limited. To make a request, contact Lindsay MacAdam, communications officer, at lmacadam@yorku.ca or ext. 22016.

Postings to LCD Screens on the Keele campus

Select YFile stories and University events are highlighted in the York News section of the campus-wide LCD screens. To request LCD screen coverage for your upcoming event, it must first be submitted as an event listing to the York University Events calendar. Then contact Lindsay MacAdam, communications officer, at lmacadam@yorku.ca or ext. 22016, with the link to your event listing and a suitable image (500×500 pixels). Please note: Not all LCD screen requests can be accommodated as space is limited.

YFile Publishing Schedule

YFile operates Monday to Friday, from 8:30am to 4:30pm. YFile works a day in advance, not the day of.

YFile publishes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The YFile publishing schedule is as follows:

10am – the next day’s editorial line up is established12:30pm – deadline for receiving finished copy, the day prior to publication3pm – deadline for getting edited material into the YFile publishing template4pm – deadline for fact-checking and proofreading, including any corrections from community members4:30pm – a test proof of the next day’s email is sent out for final review by the editor and CPA management7:30am – YFile is distributed by emailNote: On occasion and with advance warning, YFile can publish late-breaking, major news after normal working hours. However, since overtime will be incurred, the Faculty or department making the request must get approval from CPA’s director of Strategic Communications before YFile staff will proceed.

Important Web Resources

Important notice to the community: The previous YFile website has been archived and stories can be found at http://yfile-archive.news.yorku.ca/. All stories since 2014 have been included in the new format YFile. Community members are asked to update any links appearing on their websites. If you require some assistance, please send an email to yfile@yorku.ca using the subject line: Assistance.